Winning Bid
by biteoutoflife
Summary: Two-shot. A fundraising banquet for CSM decided to auction off men for dates... and Dr. M volunteered Fang and Iggy, much to Max's hatred. Will she find a way to bid on Fang, or will someone else snag the ultimate prize of the night?


**Winning Bid**

**Pt. 1**

"Don't you think it's awesome that CSM is holding a charity banquet for all their big beneficiaries?" I paused, looking at Ella, my half-sister. She was standing in front of a mirror in her room, dressed in a flowing yellow Easter-like dress that hit below her knees. Her hair was wound into a tight bun with curls spilling from the hair tie. "It's like we'll be famous because all these rich people will be there. Rich, _beautiful_ people. Eating hand-sized sandwiches and sipping cider from little shot-glasses."

"It's okay, I guess," I responded with no real enthusiasm, but hey, you know me. I wasn't too thrilled about going to some fancy schmancy event where I had to _dress up_. Okay, I would never wear a dress — EVER — so that's why I was in gray dress pants and a purple top. The girls were disappointed by my choice, but I was more concerned about the grand hall being showered by bullets. I was being practical.

Ella turned her cold gaze on me. "_Okay_? This could be awesome! Our big break! Well, my big break, anyway. You're already famous. People will want to talk to you the whole time, to meet the famous bird-kids."

My eye was twitching already just thinking about it.

"And, you know, there will probably be dancing, so that would be a perfect opportunity to have Fang to yourself…" She trailed off as I busted out laughing. Fang and I wouldn't dance together, and I doubt we'd want to be dancing with big-shots.

In case you were wondering, since we rescued my mom from Mr. Chu in Hawaii, the flock and I have drifted around a bit, but have always been close enough to Arizona to check back on her. She was completely recovered now and I was glad to see her vivacity returning. That was probably the one good thing in my life. The other I won't mention since I'm sure you're still squealing over it from the fifth book.

But there were some tiny specs on the glass, if you get my picture. For instance, Angel was still misbehaving when we were with other people. (Even after I'd given her a long talk — she still seemed content to do her own thing and completely disobey orders). Total was staying with Akila in Hawaii, or wherever they were now. I wasn't sure if they were returning to Antarctica or staying with Dr. John Abate. Gazzy and Iggy accidently set some trees on fire around California, causing a big uproar about "global warming causing such atrocities", when in fact it was just two adolescent Avian Americans who were bored out of their mind. That's not really an interesting story for the news, apparently, so they chose the global warming bit.

Nudge was coming around again, seeing that leaving us was probably the worst mistake she could have made. Her wings were still intact, russet and gorgeous as ever, and I was pleased to have her with us. And this time it was her choice. And Fang and I were good — alright, we were amazing, not to sound overly sappy or anything. The flock knew we were together and when we visited my mom again she eyed our entwined hands before finally accepting it. Ella, on the other hand, kept bragging about how she knew Fang and I would get together.

"Ella, you know me. We're not gonna dance at all."

"But it would be—"

I held up a hand to cut her off. "Just let it rest, okay? We'll see what happens."

I didn't wait around to see her reaction. I exited her room to go into the hallway, only to see Gazzy pacing around impatiently. I came up to him and ruffled his cowlick. "Hey, kiddo, how's it going?"

He was dressed in black pants and a blue collared shirt, his face in an extreme frown. "Nudge and Angel are hogging the bathroom. I really need to go."

I sighed. If they really needed a mirror they could use the one in Ella's room. "I'll see what I can do," I consented, marching over to the closed door and pounding on it. "Girls, get out now! What you're doing doesn't require you to hog the bathroom. There are other people in this house." I heard giggling from the other side right before they exited. I raised an eyebrow and they smiled. That was when I realized they both had makeup on. Oh, God, was _that _what they were doing?

"You should put some on, too," Angel said as Gazzy bolted into the bathroom before someone else could claim it. "It'd look nice and Fang would appreciate it."

I glared at her. "No, he wouldn't, now go downstairs and wait for Jeb to come." I wasn't too thrilled about that prospect but I knew it would be easy to avoid him throughout the night. Some evils were necessary, as I knew well in life.

They nodded and ran downstairs. So everyone was getting ready, it seemed, and the only ones left checking on were Fang and Iggy. I went over to the boys' room and knocked. "Guys, its Max. Can I come in?"

"Doors open," Iggy called from the other side. I entered to see Iggy somehow managing to loop a belt through his dress pants and adjust it properly to his waist. Sometimes he truly amazed me. He was in a pink and navy striped shirt which somehow looked good on him, even though I was dying to laugh at his selection.

Instead I said, "That's a nice look."

He shrugged. "Not that I'd know, but I'm sure the ladies will be telling me that all night." I smacked his shoulder, shaking my head the whole time.

Then I saw Fang and my heart skipped a beat. He was buttoning a black shirt into gray dress pants, large slits cut into the shirt to allow his black wings access. He watched me emotionlessly, his glance raking over me, before smirking.

"Wow," I choked out. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of saying he looked good — his ego was big enough as it was.

He snorted. "I can't wait for this night to be over."

"I know, but Mom said it's important for us to be there. She thinks people will donate more if they meet us. At least I don't have to give a speech this time."

He came up and wrapped one arm around me. Looking down casually, he murmured, "You look good." I felt my cheeks flush as I looked away from his dark eyes. A few weeks of officially being together and I'm still embarrassed by little comments like that. Some girlfriend I was.

"We should head down," I said to them. "Jeb will probably be here soon anyway. Mom wants to see us before we leave. Some kind of surprise or something."

The guys shrugged, not particularly interested, but obliged anyway. We left their room and passed by Ella's, who was still getting ready. Descending to the living room, we saw Angel, Nudge, and now-satisfied Gazzy sitting around the TV. Mom entered the room from the kitchen, wearing a silk white dress. Like Ella, her hair was pulled into a bun. She saw us and smiled. "Hey, kids, I just got off the phone with Jeb. He'll be here in five minutes. Where's Ella?"

"She's still getting ready," I said, sitting on the love seat. Fang plopped down next to me, resting his hand on mine.

Mom sighed. Stepping toward the staircase she called, "Ella, get down already!" She turned back toward us and smiled. "Is everyone excited for tonight?"

Her question was responded to by various levels of enthusiasm, ranging from the girls laughing happily to me groaning. The guy's didn't seem to mind either way.

Ella joined us. "Are we leaving now?" she asked.

Mom shook her head. "We have to wait for Jeb. He got us a limo for the banquet."

Okay, I'll admit it. I gaped once she said that. Since when did Jeb care enough recently to accommodate us with the finest furnishings? As far as I knew, Mom and the government were the only ones to have taken care of us the last few months. If he was trying to get back in my good graces it wasn't working.

"What's the surprise?" Nudge asked.

"The event isn't the only fundraiser," Mom said with the hint of a smile. "We thought of a special auction that would add some light to the banquet and make it more interesting."

Angel giggled, reading my mom's thoughts. She kept stealing glances at Fang and Iggy.

"Like what?" Gazzy wondered.

"They thought it would be fun to auction off the men as dates for women to choose. It's a fun way to open up and meet new people, and… well, I sort of volunteered Fang and Iggy to be a part of it."

"What?" I demanded just as Iggy exclaimed, "Cool!"

Nudge, Ella, and Angel started laughing. I jumped to my feet immediately, despite the stupidity of this action. My fists clenched and unclenched. There was no way I was going to let Fang be taken away by some red-haired, overage admirer who it would be _illegal_ for them to be with each other.

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"I think it's a good idea," Iggy mused.

Fang tugged at my hand, wanting me to sit down again. "It's just for one night," he said. "How bad could it be? Besides, you can bid on me, unless you secretly have your eye on Iggy."

I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh, you know it." But I was calming down… a little. I sighed and sat down again.

"It doesn't mean anything, Max," Mom reminded me. "It's just a fun event that everyone can enjoy. Even Jeb is being auctioned off." I resisted the urge to gag. "I would have offered Gazzy too if he wasn't eight."

"Oh thank God," he breathed.

I shot Mom a look that said, see, this isn't a good idea. She looked at me sourly. "There's no way around it. Fang and Iggy are already featured in the program. I've heard all day about people wanting to bid for them."

"Okay, then, will you lend me the money to buy Fang?" I asked.

"No, because that wouldn't be fair. You can't hog him all to yourself."

I wanted to say, _yes I could_, but I was biting my tongue. There was no need to sound childish. Besides, how much fun could Fang have there anyway? We are official so no real harm could come from tonight, right?

Jeb entered through the front door just then, followed by red-headed Dr. Brigid Dwyer, wearing a light blue, form-fitting dress. My expression froze in place. Oh, God, she was going to be there.

And as far as I knew she would want to bid on Fang.

Life is not fair.

* * *

**I wrote this before I saw nudge-loves-iggy5304's "The Two Worst Dates Ever". But hey, we're just that cool for thinking of the same idea. :P And check out my video on youtube. It sucks but I'm proud of it. Link's on my profile. My friends and I want to start a web show for MR so if you have any ideas please tell me so we can incorporate them. Also I have a poll concerning the this story, so please do it!**

**Eating cold pizza for breakfast**

**--biteoutoflife--**


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